It's all About Skills
by DevinBourdain
Summary: Some members of the crew are having a friendly game of poker but Angie and Ryan make a bet with them that sounds to good to pass up.


Disclaimer: The Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea characters are not mine, just borrowed for this story.

Reviews are always welcome.

**It's All About Skills**

"I'll see your ten and raise you five," offered Kowalski as he threw a couple of blue poker chips across the table.

"I'm out," said Stu Riley as he placed his cards down on the brown cafeteria table.

"Me too," added Patterson as he followed Riley's actions.

"We'll Malone are you in or out?" asked Ski.

Malone looked at his cards again and then back at Kowalski. After weighing his options he took one last look at his friends to see if they had a tell.

"This one's between you and Cookie, Ski. I'm out."

"And I don't think you have it. I'll see your fifteen and raise you five more," said the cook as he threw his chips on the pile.

"So this is where all the big strong boys are," stated NIMR's senior administrator Angie as she and Nelson's personal assistant Ryan walked into the cafeteria carrying banker's boxes. Angie dropped her box on top of the pile of poker chips with an exaggerated sigh of relief.

"Hey," yelled the crewmen at the interruption of their game.

"You forgot, strong and handsome and helpful," added Ryan with a coy smile.

Angie pleaded, "Oh come on guys it's just a card game. Why don't you show us what strapping lads you are and help us move these boxes to storage. You guys could get it done in half an hour where as it would take the two of us hours to relocate all these boxes."

"Dames, always up to no good. See they start with 'oh you're so strong' then they tell you what they want," explained Cookie.

"Well if we can't appeal to your vanity how about we play for it," offered Ryan.

"You want to play a hand of poker with us?" asked Kowalski.

"If we win, you do the heavy lifting," stated Angie.

"And if we win?" inquired Patterson.

"Next time you boys have to scrub the deck or some equally boring task, we'll do it," Ryan offered.

The boys pondered the offer for a moment and after quietly discussing the scenario, they came to a consensus.

"Poker is a gentlemen's game," snipped Cookie.

"Well I don't see any gentlemen here so that's a moot point," replied Ryan.

Angie continued, "so you in or out boys?"

"Oh we're definitely in," smirked Ski.

Angie and Ryan pulled up two chairs and Riley started shuffling the cards. Ryan picked up Malone's silver lighter and began to tap it on the table. Cookie picked up his chips and let them clink back on to the table to show off his winnings from the previous rounds.

"How about we make it really interesting? We also play for the money on the table. Whoever wins the pot or has the most chips at the end of thirty minutes wins the bet," proposed Ryan.

"Buy in is fifty dollars," explained Cookie.

"Not a problem," answered Ryan as she handed Patterson the money and took her chips.

"How about we get to deal?" suggested Angie.

"Alright, ladies first," Pat agreed as he took the cards from Stu and passed them to Ryan.

Chief Sharkey was passing by the cafeteria when he noticed the small group in the far corner. Deciding to see what they were up to he entered the lunchroom. When he arrived at the table Ryan was just starting to deal the hand.

Sharkey asked, "What's going on here?"

Riley chimed in, "we're playing the girls to settle a bet."

"Ya," continued Ski, "if we win, Ryan and Angie are going to do some manual labour for us and if they win, we're going to move all the file boxes into storage for them."

"We know it seems kinda unfair to take advantage of them like this, but they wanted to play Chief," stated Malone.

Sharkey watched hand after hand being played. Twenty-five minutes later the boys were broke and the girls were up $125 each. Begrudgingly the crewmen handover the money and began packing up the cards and poker chips.

"Thank-you, for a lovely game gentlemen. We'll be upstairs to show you which boxes you need to take," Angie said.

"See, dames are nothing but trouble," grumbled Cookie.

"These dames make sure your paycheck gets signed," replied Ryan, "don't keep us waiting long boys. Lots of boxes to move."

Kowalski stated, "Well how do like that."

"Guess we're not as smart as we thought," added Pat.

"Well when you put a fox in the hen house, he's going to walk away with the goods," suggested the Chief.

"How do you figure that Chief, the girls won?" inquired Riley as he picked up the filing box that Angie had left.

"I didn't say you guys were the fox. You've been had boys."

Malone asked, "What are you talking about Chief?"

Sharkey smiled. "Well you see, Miss Angie there was dealing from the bottom of the deck and Miss Ryan, who was very quick to place your highly reflective lighter where she could deal over top of it, could see every card she dealt."

"You're saying they cheated?" asked Riley with a rather shocked look on his face.

"You've been taken by the best boys. No shame in that," comforted the Chief.

Still not able to accept that the girls might have gotten one over on them, Pat asked, "are you sure Chief?"

"Guys of course I'm sure. I had a very rich and full childhood," explained Sharkey as he punctuated his statement with a wink, "now I believe you have some boxes to move for those lovely ladies."

The End.


End file.
